


Yesterday

by pacederror



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 00:53:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18021749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pacederror/pseuds/pacederror
Summary: A sole survivor who has avoided all responsibilities to the past starts to unravel how much every event in the Commonwealth hinges on what she hasn't done. Will update various tags as the story progresses. Violent, and suggestive, with gratuitous cursing.





	Yesterday

Mei had been there before, of course. After her initial stint in Diamond City, she had made her way a couple of times to the other City— Goodneighbor. This time was different, though. It felt different. It had been months.

When she had gone the first couple of times, she didn’t much make it deeper than the market and the few integrated stores at the front, working on networking and selling off some things. The third time she had gone back, it had just been to Daisy to procure something very specific that one of her customers had requested and she didn’t know where else to go.

In the months that she had been gone, fortifications had gone up just inside the walls, and she spotted a few guards in the buildings surrounding, trying to be sneaky. Snipers, she reasoned. She made sure that her trench coat covered most of her weapons, her PipBoy, before she headed into the city. The square just inside the gate was bustling, so she slipped through the vendors and the drifters and the trash and headed over to Daisy’s shop. She was behind the counter, and her eyes flicked over Mei before she nodded to the scavver.

‘Mei,’ she said, dragging out the name. ‘It’s been a while. Not a ghoul still, I see.’

‘Give it time,’ Mei answered easily, shooting a smile to the ghoul, who returned it. ‘How have you been?’

‘I’d be lying if I said it has been easy,’ Daisy answered, waving a hand to her to come around the counter. She did, leaning against the wall and watching her as she continued her work on a radio. ‘Actually, it might actually be something that you can help with. Gunners.’

‘I hate Gunners.’

‘I know.’

‘Do you need me to wipe some out?’

‘Always, but that’s not something I need your services specifically for.’ She wiped at her hands before she turned to face Mei. ‘Hancock is insisting on harbouring someone that is wanted by the gang. It might not be very goodneighborly, but it’s making all of our lives even more of a living hell than it was already.’

‘I only ever saw the mayor once. What do you want me to do?’

‘Give the fugitive a job, of course. Get him out of here.’

‘Daisy,’ Mei said with a frown.

‘Mei,’ Daisy answered, head cocking to the side. ‘You’d be doing us all a favour. At least go and talk to Hancock. I’m sure he’d take the offer.’

‘I’ll think about it. I’ve had my hands full at home as it is.’

Somehow, Mei found herself within the hour going into the state building and asking to speak to Hancock. One of the Watch led her up the stairs, knocked on a door, and when there was a voice inside, the Watch opened the door for her and she slipped inside. The door closed behind her, and she was in a dimly lit room, vaguely smoke-filled, with the Mayor sprawled on a couch, hand over his eyes, looking like he was in a considerable amount of pain. ‘Hancock?’ She murmured quietly.

‘Let me lie my head in your lap,’ he said without looking to see who it was. She discarded her jacket over a chair and came to him. He lifted up just enough to let her sit, then he was lying in her lap, head turned towards her briefly to take in a deep breath. She wondered if it was for reassurance.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I’ve been getting this wicked headaches,’ he said quietly after a moment, eyes open briefly to look up at her. ‘Mei, right?’

‘Right,’ she answered. ‘You been drinking your water?’

‘More than booze.’

‘How much drugs?’

‘Not enough, apparently.’ His hands went over his face, and he took in a long breath. She hesitated before tracing fingers over his exposed scalp, head tilting to look it over. She pressed at a spot at his temple, and he hissed a little in pain, but then her other hand was there too, pressing at his other temple. He let out a gasp, coughed, and sat up and out of her grip. He was there for a moment, leaning over, head between his knees. ‘What did you do?’

‘Is it better?’

‘Yeah— what did you do?’

‘Pressure points. It’s different on ghouls.’ She watched as he sat up, squinting for a moment, staring at the wall across the room, before his eyes opened and he looked over at her.

‘That’s amazing. I haven’t been able to see straight in over a week.’ He stretched out a hand to her, which she took, and they shook hands. ‘Hancock.’

‘Mei,’ she answered with a smile. ‘Ghoul-whisperer extraordinaire.’

That pulled a laugh out of him, and he reached for a pack of cigarettes on the table. He offered one to her, and lit it before he lit his own. He leaned back in the couch next to him, and there was an easy silence. ‘Did you need something, or did some god send you to me?’

‘Daisy did, actually.’

‘This about the MacCready thing again?’

‘Something about a fugitive from the Gunners.’

‘Yeah, that’s MacCready. That boy will be the death of me, I swear.’ His head leaned back and he blew out some smoke to the ceiling. ‘You want him? I’ll sell him to you.’

‘What’s the price?’

‘Spend the night.’

‘I don’t like sleeping here, Hancock. Never did on my other trips.’

‘But this is different. You don’t have to sleep.’ They exchanged a long look, and he laid his head down in her lap again. She didn’t object— she didn’t know how she really could. A mayor versus a scavver. ‘All joking aside, if you spend the night here, you’ll see what happens when night falls.’

‘What happens?’

‘The streets go quiet,’ he said in an ominous tone, cigarette butt into the ashtray on the table before he was back to her lap. She leaned forward to do the same, which caused him to make a very content kind of noise. ‘I’ll call him in before nightfall so you can meet him. He’s useful, at least.’

‘What’s his specialty?’

‘He’s a sniper, actually.’ He made himself more comfortable on the couch. ‘Are you staying?’

‘One night.’

‘Good. You can teach me how to do that thing.’

‘What do I get in return?’

He smirked, and then sat up. He stayed there for a second before standing. ‘That’s more of a show than a tell.’ He beckoned her with a wave of his hand, and she retrieved her jacket and then followed him into a second room. ‘I was going to say something about age, but then I realised you’re probably older than I am. Close the door.’

They were in another dimly-lit room, but this one was a lot smaller, cosier. She did close the door, though. ‘We should be about the same age.’

‘Ah haha, you don’t know the story.’

‘Is it relevant?’

‘Suffice it to say that I am not from the same age as you are. You’ve got me by at least a century.’

‘I didn’t know you liked older women.’

He laughed, and though she couldn’t see him in the dim room, she smiled anyway. ‘Take off all that gear. I’ll lock the door. We can compare scars and wrinkles.’ The door locked and she took off the PipBoy first, letting the glow light up the room in its dim way.

‘How did you hear about my age?’

He was shrugging off his jacket, and looked over at her. ‘I hear stories; I try to stay up to date with the news.’

‘I didn’t know my age was news.’

‘Maybe not to you, but having a non-ghoul knowing so much about before the war, like it just happened? That’s news.’

‘I try not to show off.’

‘You’ve succeeded. You haven’t even made a murmur outside of the underground. If you’re worried about boogeymen.’

‘I do sometimes.’ He told her to hush until she was undressed and so then they were into his bed. She had her leggings from under her jeans on, as well as a tanktop, but it had been ages since she had been so relaxed outside of home. He was barely wearing that, and he pressed close to her, seemingly relaxing. ‘You invite every scavver into your bed?’

‘Oh, no,’ he assured her, his voice sleepy. ‘There’s only a handful that have even been in this room. If I want company, usually I leave.’

‘Interesting.’

‘Not really. I’m too busy to woo anyone. Caps is much simpler.’

‘But is it fulfilling?’

‘You know the answer to that.’ She didn’t answer, and he didn’t press it further. His arm went around her waist, ear to her chest, letting the sound of her heartbeat surround and engulf him. His fingers worked its way to bare skin. ‘You’ve started turning.’

‘It’s a slow process.’

He sat up, straddling her to lift up the shirt to reveal her belly, where the skin was slowly turning necrotic. The strain of the belts at her waist made it the worst here, and at her shoulders. ‘Mei, you shouldn’t hide this.’

‘Hancock— no one else needs to know right now.’ Her hands went from his shoulders, where they gripped, to his waist before falling away. ‘It’s not that big of a deal.’

‘More of a deal for you than for me, I imagine.’

‘Can we not?’

‘Mei—‘ He cut off as she pushed him off of her and away. He laid back down beside her, and the silence now was uneasy between them. More than a few minutes passed before he took in a light breath and murmured, ‘where else?’

‘Enough that I don’t go nude in front of anyone.’

‘It’d be okay if you did. Nothing new to me.’ She didn’t reply, and so he found a blanket and laid it out over them. He slipped under it to kiss at her belly, just waiting for another push away. It didn’t come, her fingers working over his scalp as she took his reassurances and kept them close to her. ‘Tell me what I can’t do.’

‘I don’t know,’ she said truthfully, fingers pausing for a second before resuming. ‘We just met.’

‘I know.’ He kissed at her skin again, fingers slipping into her waistband and tugging them down slowly. His fingers traced over skin that had already been tugged and rotted away, tight over the muscles and the change underneath. He didn’t comment. He just undressed her, with some of her help naturally, and their skin pressed together. It felt odd to her, but what had started as what she suspected was the beginnings of a very torrid sexual affair had instead fell to a kind of mutual assurance; therapy. 

Her eyes closed as she pressed closer to him, head to his chest, ear to his heart like he had done to her. He was on his back, fingers tracing up and down her back, over scars here and there, but mostly it was in silence. ‘Tell me about what happens at night.’

‘No, no business allowed while we’re naked together in bed.’

‘I can get up and get dressed if that would make it easier.’

He considered this for a moment, but his grip tightened on her before he began explaining. ‘Goodneighbor isn’t safe anymore. It was supposed to be a haven, and for a while it was. The past year though— it’s only been getting worse and worse. I can keep the order during the day. It’s the rest of the time when it’s almost as if anarchy reigns. Real anarchy, not my anarchy.’

‘It’s just the Gunners?’

‘It’s partially them. Partially it’s everything else. Everyone else. But maybe if we removed the Gunner component, everything else would just dissipate, you feel?’

‘I do. Hence me taking MacCready.’

‘Hence.’

‘I kind of feel like you’re pawning him off on me.’

‘That’s exactly what’s happening.’ She looked up at him, and he stroked his chin as he met the look before his eyes darted away again. ‘It shouldn’t be a burden, and yet sometimes that’s what doing all this mayoral shit feels like.’

‘Don’t feel duty-bound to me,’ she whispered, and his grip tightened on her.

‘That’s not what I meant. You’re not what I meant. Taking advantage—‘ He cut off quickly. ‘No, I mean, that you came around and that you have enough of a reputation where I can feel like he can be safe— useful to you—‘

‘So, I’m convenient.’

He took in a light breath. ‘Yes? But it’s in a good way. Like a fucking blessing.’ She sat up slightly to look at him, to catch his eye, which he met. ‘I promise. I’m not sure I would trust anyone else with the task.’

‘Why can’t he fend for himself?’

‘You haven’t met him. He’s scrappy in a fight, but he can’t take on half the Commonwealth by himself. I think you and me are the only ones who could do that.’

‘You’re cute.’

He laughs softly, eyes up on her now, hands at her hips to bring her back down to him. ‘I’m serious, though. I’ve seen your body count.’ 

‘Not fair. I haven’t seen yours.’

‘No, but can you feel it?’ They didn’t move for a second, then a moment, and then they broke into smiles. Her hands returned to him, at his cheeks, eyes on his. He took in a breath, let it go, and then he tensed under her before trying again. ‘Kiss me.’

‘I’ve been waiting for you to.’

‘Mei.’

She leaned down and kissed him, deeply. The tension left him, and he met the kiss, grip tightening at her hips. ‘Hancock,’ she murmured against his lips. He shushed her and kissed her again, palms pressing at the front of her hips to shift her against him. After a minute she had to sit up, straddling him, and she shook out her hair. He didn’t protest. His hands traced along the lines between necrotic and healthy skin.

‘You’re like the best of both worlds,’ he commented softly.

‘You just like my boobs.’

‘Not true,’ he protested immediately. She laughed quietly, still fluffing out her hair, eyes up and on the ceiling before closing. His hands did come up to cup her breasts now that she wasn’t looking, slight squeezes while he could get away with it. ‘Though they are amazing. You’ve aged well.’ Her hands came to his arms, and she returned down to kiss him lightly. He smiled against it, with another squeeze. ‘When was the last time?’

‘Ages. You?’

‘Oh, don’t ask that.’

‘That you didn’t pay for.’

He made a thinking noise. ‘Not quite as long as you, but close enough.’

‘You need someone. You’re too stressed.’

‘I have release, Mei. Just not right at this second. Not yet.’ His hands returned to her hips, and hers fell to his chest. 

‘Still. I won’t be around most of the time and—‘

‘I know, now shut up.’ He pushed her over so she was on her back, and made sure she stayed quiet with a deep kiss, pressed close and hot against her. 

 

 

Mei didn’t leave the room until that afternoon, and then it was mainly for food and coffee. He poured her a cup of coffee that had been kept warm on the hot plate and they sat in the state room, his people milling about around them as they smoked. He dealt with some business now that he was partially recovered, and then afterwards he returned to her again. It wasn’t until that night that anything more of interest happened; to Mei it was like one of those zombie movies, where everyone bolts their doors at night and the streets were clear.

She was out, though, jacket back on and guns loaded. She crept through the streets, and Hancock was above her at the roof of the state building, his building, an eye out without getting himself into undue danger. It wasn’t long after dusk that the first group of Gunners made themselves known, pushing through the gate. She glanced up a the building facing the entrance, saw the glint of the sight, and knew that MacCready was there, just like Hancock had told her he would. She flashed a small torch at him; he flashed two short bursts immediately back.

She set herself up in the alley by the entrance, protected by brick on two sides and a barrier behind her. Two shots from her 10mm landed a Gunner on the ground, immediately drawing the attention of the rest of the group. They were quickly dispatched between her shotgun and the sniper, and she slipped out the front gate for a couple minutes of recon before coming back; she flashed the torch at the sniper again, which he replied to. She made sure that everyone that was down was dead before she climbed up the steps and ladders to reach him. He was reloading, back against the wall that lined the roof, head down enough that he was hidden. He watched her approach, and cleared her a spot beside him by moving his ammo bag.

‘One group down,’ he said simply once he was done reloading, and lit a cigarette to occupy himself in its stead. She did the same, and there was silence for a moment.

‘Some good shooting,’ she complimented.

‘Ditto.’ He glanced at her. There was barely any light, but she could see it in the glow of the cherry at the end of his cigarette. ‘Where’d you learn?’

She looked at him, considering lying heavily, and then shrugged a little. ‘Here and there. Mostly out of necessity.’

‘Same.’ They both looked away; they knew they were each lying. In the end, it didn’t matter. ‘Second group should be incoming within ten. The first group usually sends someone back to check in; without that, the second group will be bigger.’

‘Good to know. Want me on the ground again?’

He let out a long stream of smoke as he thought. ‘I should be able to cover you. You’re not an idiot. So yeah. Let’s do it.’ She smoked a cigarette before she headed back down, feeling better after a rendezvous with the man keeping her alive. She didn’t have to wait long before a second exploratory group came through the gates, and she crouched in her position in the alley again, eyeing their movements. One wandered too close to her hideout, and she dragged the woman into the alley, strangling her silently. Two more fell across the square from silenced sniper rounds before the rest of the group realised they were under attack. Once they did, it was a coordinated assault with her shotgun, an automatic weapon she picked up from a fallen Gunner and MacCready’s sniper fire.

The last soldier fell and she slipped out the gate again. A shot followed her and she stopped, staring at where the bullet was embedded in the doorframe. She looked up at where MacCready lay, and he flashed his light quickly at her. She didn’t see anything, but she had decided to trust him, she she sprinted back to her alleyway and hid herself in the shadows. It wasn’t an entire minute later that she heard the telltale mechanical sounds of power armour. She cursed under her breath, sending a look up to the empty heavens.

Then Mei carefully made her way from cover to cover in order to climb back up to his rooftop. She sat slouched down beside where he lay. 

‘Sorry for shooting that close to you,’ he whispered.

‘Don’t be. I wouldn’t have wanted to tangle with that thing by myself.’ She shook her head. ‘How did you know?’

‘Standard Gunner procedure. With two of their groups dead, and no one to report back, they’ll assume the worst. So, be ready.’

‘You were a Gunner.’

‘I was a sniper for them. I don’t prescribe to their brainwashed approach to terrorising the Commonwealth, so don’t get it twisted.’

‘It’s okay,’ she said softly, since his voice had risen quite a bit defensively. ‘Who am I to judge?’

He didn’t reply. He was entirely focused on his task. ‘Okay, at least two jackasses, and expect at least twenty flanking them. You know how to take out that power armour?’

‘A bit rusty. You have ideas?’

‘You draw their fire so their backs are to me. I’ll shoot their FC. They go boom. Simplest way.’

‘You’re using me as bait.’

‘It’s the cleanest way. You can handle it.’

She made a disgusted noise and headed back down to the groundfloor again. She was over by the gate, slinked down in the shadows by the piles of the trash. She saw three flashes from the roof, and she looked up at the empty heavens again.

The soldiers came through the gate first, but she was well hidden. They did a very sloppy perimeter check, and one appeared to be counting the dead that laid strewn about the square. The power armoured jackasses came next, one at a time, each with a small group of soldiers. One stopped right in front of her, and she shoved a grenade under the back piece of the armour’s side hole, where it had rusted away, pulled the pin, and then pushed him, hard, so he stumbled into the center of the square. It was all she could do to get some cover behind the gatewall, and that was a near thing. She caught some shrapnel in her left leg, but she just hissed to herself and tried to ignore it. She waited for a moment before she looked back around the wall and into the chaos. She flashed her torch once at MacCready, who flashed back quickly. She could almost see the relief in that brief flash through the smoke.

She replaced her shotgun with her 10mm and a very large knife, and made her way slowly into the smoke, slicing at legs and then quick stabs in the throats as the soldiers fell. She had to work quickly, and she dropped an additional dozen in the smoke before it began to dissipate, and she had to duck behind cover again. Her leg was killing her, and she glanced down at it under her coat, and it was even bloodier than she expected. She tried to ignore it, grabbing the nearest gunner, removing their scarf, and wrapping it around the shrapnel wound lightly, if only to stem some of the blood. She’d deal with it later.

Once the smoke was clear, the sniper took out the only remaining jackass, and she could easily find some crouching soldiers and dispatch them without much hassle. She did a slow perimeter afterwards, and then flashed her torch twice at MacCready. He waited a moment before responding with a solid three. He suddenly appeared as a shadowy figure on the roof. ‘Clear,’ he called down.

‘Clear,’ was echoed in Hancock’s gravelly voice from the state building’s roof.

‘Will there be more?’ She called up, standing slowly, only on her right leg.

‘Not tonight,’ the sniper assured her, sliding down the fire escape a few moments later. He had his bag and rifle over his shoulder, and he came to her immediately, avoiding a pile of bodies and body parts to crouch beside her. ‘Fuc— Crap, that looks bad. I wasn’t sure why you were moving slower.’

‘It’s just some shrapnel. I’ll clean it up inside.’ She shifted so the bloody leg was away from him. ‘We have some cleaning to do out here, anyway.’

‘Not us. The cooks don’t clean up the kitchen.’ He stood again, eyeing her as if she was going to fall over at any moment. ‘Let’s go inside.’

‘Cooks do clean the kitchen, actually,’ she said quietly, tucking away her knife and then her gun as calmly and smoothly as she could. ‘But yes, let’s go inside.’

 

A few hours later she was dozing off with her bandaged leg propped up on a stool in the main state room. Hancock had provided her with some tools and some fresh bandages and she had done the rest. MacCready didn’t leave, even when some of the others cleared out, and while he did little to help, he was of good company, anyway. He was now dozing on the floor by the couch she was on. Hancock was off running business and clean up, as well as organising a few sweeping patrols for the blocks surrounding the city.

‘You’re bleeding through those bandages, too,’ the sniper murmured.

‘Is it dripping?’

‘No.’

‘Then it’s fine. It’ll stop.’

‘What if it doesn’t?’

‘It will. It’s still very fresh.’

He was quiet for a few moments before she heard the strike of the match to light his cigarette. She made a noise and then lit her own with a sigh. ‘I’ve never seen you here before.’

‘I don’t come here often. Usually it’s only for some very specific trading.’

‘Oh,’ he said quietly.

‘Why did you stay for so long?’

‘No where else really to go. Hancock gave me some jobs. Sold some salvage. Nothing… else to do.’

‘Bullshit. You’re a damn good sniper.’

‘I know.’

‘You could go work for anyone.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

She bent forward to look down at him. He was still lying on the floor. He looked up at her. He was young, but he had lost almost all of his boyish looks. Right now he just looked hungry. ‘I wish we had met sooner. But now we have. And I can give you a job.’

‘And kill Gunners with me?’

‘Of course.’

He grinned.


End file.
